Doncaster named UK's number one car crash hotspot after 12 deaths in recent weeks

The accident rate in Doncaster is 503 per 100,000 people, researchers found – higher than anywhere else in the rest of the UK.

It is 17 times more dangerous than East Dunbartonshire, which is the safest place with 28 collisions per 100,000.

Second-most dangerous is Rotherham, also South Yorkshire, where the smash rate is 371.

London is third on 261, ahead of Hull (250) and Stockton-on-Tees (247).

Only three of the safest ten areas — Staffs, Beds and Stoke-on-Trent — are not in Scotland.

One Sure Insurance analysed Home Office data for 168 areas in 2022.

It said: “It’s a legal requirement to insure your vehicle and identifying accident hot spots is very useful.

"By pinpointing them we can try to understand why drivers face challenges there.”

And the figures seem to be backed up by a tragic first few months of 2024, which has seen 12 people die on Doncaster’s roads in the space of just a few weeks.

On top of that, there have been a number of other serious incidents which have left people critically ill in hospital with life threating injuries, making it an horrific start to the year in Doncaster for so many families.

This is the tragic tale of the recent series of fatal and serious incidents on Doncaster’s roads.

January 2: A man dies after being hit by a lorry on an early morning smash on the M18 near to Doncaster. The pedestrian died close to junction two following the collision.

January 16: Motorcyclist Alex Anderson, 20, dies following a collision on High Levels Bank near Thorne.

January 16: Widespread delays after two lorries crash on the M18 near Doncaster.

January 18: A man in his 20s is left fighting for his life following a three vehicle collision in Carcroft.

January 19: A lorry collides with Doncaster city centre’s Frenchgate tunnel, causing rush hour chaos.

January 21: Olivia Maltby, 22, and Nathan Naughton, aged 26, are both tragically killed in a single-vehicle collision in Harworth.

January 21: A 77-year-old man dies following a collision with an Audi in Bawtry Road, Bessacarr

January 23: A 56-year-old motorcyclist suffers life threatening injuries in a crash with a police car in Hampole.

January 26: A man is arrested after a woman suffers serious injuries and is left in a critical condition following a crash between two vans in Hickleton.

January 31: A three vehicle collision closes St George’s Bridge, causing rush hour chaos. Fortunately, no one is seriously hurt.

February 1: A 75-year-old man dies following a collision in Mexborough, with a 23-year-old arrested at the scene.

February 3: A 28-year-old man dies after his car is in collision with a lorry on the West Moor Link road near to the M18 motorway.

February 4: A 43-year-old man dies in a collision with a taxi in Armthorpe Road.

February 7: 84-year-old Edward Walker is seriously injured in a collision with a car in Askern, dying in hospital three weeks later on February 27.

March 5: An elderly woman dies in a collision with a large goods vehicle on Trafford Way, Doncaster.

March 16: A 68-year-old woman dies in a collision in Cranfield Close, Armthorpe.

April 4: A 24-year-old man dies in a single vehicle collision in Hampole.